The present invention is generally directed to cooling systems for electronic circuit components. More particularly the present system is directed to a hybrid system employing air as a coolant which is functional up to a designed power dissipation level. Beyond the designed-for-power level dissipation point, an auxiliary boost cooling mechanism is employed. Since the auxiliary system is operative only when needed, its design and implementation is thus simplified so as to make the auxiliary cooling mechanism as small as possible in order to minimize the internal enclosure volume consumed by cooling system components which no longer end up displacing volume occupied by more desirable electronic system components. There are thus tradeoffs between closure size, circuit power dissipation level, and noise induced by the flow of cooling air which are positively influenced by the dual level cooling design of the present invention.
As circuit size has shrunk and as an increasing number of transistors have been incorporated into circuit chip design, the power density in terms of the heat that is to be removed has grown significantly. Higher operating frequencies have also contributed to the heat dissipation problem. It is also desirable to package such chips on cards and on boards and to include these packages in various electronic systems from which heat can be readily removed.
As the power which is to be removed from electronic systems has increased, there has been a corresponding need to increase the volume taken up within system housings by cooling components. With the number of transistors included on a chip doubling approximately every 18 months and with processors speed increasing at an even greater rate than this, it is seen that the heat dissipation problem is one that is currently difficult but which is also destined to be even more difficult in the future. In this regard, is also important to bear in mind that, when circuits operate at higher frequencies, the amount of power that they dissipate also increases. Accordingly, it is seen that a strategy which simply reduces the number of transistors per chip by keeping the same die size is not a viable solution to the problem because increases in operation frequency will also drive up heat dissipation requirements.
Even apart from the growing concern about the levels of thermal power which are dissipated by newer electronic circuit devices, there also exists the problem of defining the most efficient and cost effective mechanism for cooling. In particular, one of the objectives for newer cooling systems is the effective utilization of the existing volume that is available for the inclusion of cooling system components. As pointed out above, solving the problem of increased thermal dissipation by increasing the volume and size of the cooling system components is not desirable. Increasing the size of cooling system components only leads to increasing the size of electronics systems cabinets and/or such things as data processing nodes. However, increases in external dimensions are also an undesired element in systems design. Furthermore, increasing the volume occupied by cooling system components while keeping the enclosure or cabinet volume low only reduces the volume available for the more desirable electronic system components.
Along with all of the other concerns above, there is the desire to select and employ cooling system methodologies which exhibit the highest coefficient of performance (COP). In terms of COP, that is, air cooling provides significant levels of performance. Nonetheless, air cooling by itself has power dissipation limitations. Nonetheless, air cooling has several advantages in terms of cost and efficiency of operation. In a typical air cooling system the only moving part is an air moving device such as a fan, blower or other mechanism for directing air against cooling surfaces. However, in terms of its ability to carry away significant amounts of heat, air cooling has its limitations. It is further noted that limitations imposed by acoustic noise generation in air cooled systems provides another constraint in that additional air cooling capability is simply not desirable simply by increasing blower motor power or by increasing the rate of air flow measured in such units as cubic feet per minute (CFM). Nonetheless, in spite of the limitations of air cooling, particularly at high power levels, it is still seen as a desirable mechanism both in terms of cost and in terms of performance.
As pointed out above, air cooling has its limitations at high power levels. Accordingly, at higher power levels one is often forced to consider other cooling methods such as water cooled plates and refrigeration cooled plate systems. However, in general these systems tend to consume relatively high volumes of cabinet space within an electronic processing node or system. For this reason, these other cooling mechanisms also have their limitations.
Accordingly, it is seen that with the increased numbers of circuit components on electronic circuit chips and with increasing chip operating frequencies, the required degree of power dissipation is not only high but is also destined to grow to even higher levels. It is therefore seen that with the current state of knowledge, no single cooling method is a stand out in terms of meeting all of the desired cooling and electronic system constraints described above.